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tv   Democracy Now  WHUT  October 12, 2012 6:00pm-7:00pm EDT

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10/12/12 10/12/12 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from santa fe, new mexico, this is "democracy now!" >> we immediately went out and rescued general motors. we went ahead and major we cut taxes from the middle-class. in addition, when that occurred, what did romney do? m the romney said to let foreclosures hit the bottom rate is should not surprising for a guy who says 47% of the american people are unwilling to take responsibility for their own lives. >> with respect to that, the
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vice-president very well knows that sometimes the words do not come out of your mouth or by way. [laughter] >> but i always say what i mean. and so does romney. >> as vice-president joe biden and republican congress member paul ryan spar in kentucky, in their only vice-presidential debate, we break the sound barrier including two candidates shut out by the two men political parties. chicano writer luis rodriguez, the vice president to candidate of the justice party, and cheri honkala of the green party. >> there's a real crisis happening in this country. when corporations and the wealthy to pay someone to do child labor or slave wages, why would they pay the american worker a decent wage? >> and gang mentality, yet to
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think differently. do not think about revenge and this kind of stuff. guess who does more than anybody? our leaders, our government, the people who are supposed to run everything. >> first, the european union wins the nobel peace prize. we will speak with tariq ali, commentator and writer. all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are on our 100-city tour, broadcasting from albuquerque, new mexico. vice-president joe biden and republicangress member and vice presidential nominee paul ryan squared off in the first and only vice presidential debate thursday night with a series of lively exchanges over domestic and foreign policy. joe biden was seen as playing a more aggressive role in a debate
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that saw sharp critiques on both sides. topics ranged from medicare and abortion to iran. the deadly attacks on the u.s. embassy in libya featured prominently in the debate with ryan criticizing the administration over what he said was a lack of embassy security. >> imposing these devastating defense cuts for it what that does when we equivocate we sho'e cutting our own defense, it makes us more weak. when we look weak, our adversaries are much more willing to test us, more brazen in their attacks and allies are less -- >> with all due respect, that is a bunch of malarkey. >> why is that so? what's not a single thing is correct. be specific. security in his budget by $300@ million below what we asked for, number one. so much for that.
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number two, governor romney, before he knew the facts, before he even knew our ambassador was killed, he was out making a political statement which was panned by the media around the world. >> we will have more on the debate later in this show, and expanded by including some third party vice-presidential candidates. the 2012 nobel peace prize has been awarded to the european union at a time when 27-nation body is embroiled in a debt crisis that has sparked mass protests in spain and greece. the nobel committee cited the etan's historical leadership, including efforts to rebuild the continent after world war ii and promote stability after the fall of the berlin wall in 1989. but critics note more recently, the eu has backed crippling austerity cuts in struggling countries such as greece, where new figures thursday showed unemployment has risen above 25% in july. we will have more on the nobel
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peace prize later in the broadcast. this year's nobel prize for literature went to the chinese novelist mo yan. critics accuse the author of being too close to china's ruling communist government, a claim he denied friday, saying his writing has always been on the side of the people. turkey has defended its forced grounding of a syrian passenger planes in the cargo included russian ammunition and other military equipment bound for damascus. syria and russia have both condemned turkey's actions and denied there was anything illegal on board the plane. turkey says it's examining cargo that it confiscated. tensions between syria and turkey have been rising since mortar fire from across the syrian border killed five turkish civilians last week. on thursday, u.s. state department spokesperson victoria nuland said the united states strongly supports turkey's actions. >> more broadly, we strongly support the government of turkey's decision to inspect the
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plane. and while we would send you to them for more s on what they found, we would be concerned by any effort to supply military equipment to the al-assad regime because it is clearly being used by the regime against their own people. >> turkey has sided with rebels opposed to syrian president bashar al-assad fighting over the 18-month conflict between the regime and rebel forces which has displaced an estimated 300,000 syrians, sending them fleeing into turkey, jordan, iraq, and other countries. on thursday, syrian refugee described the conditions at one camp in a rebel controlled area near the turkish border. >> we're living in very difficult conditions. we are witnessing a lot of sorrow garbage is throwing -- is thrown everywhere. there are over 500 families here. words cannot express the hardship we live in. i challenge anyone to live here for even two hours.
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>> the leader of the lebanese militant group hezbollah has admitted to launching an iranian-made drone over israel in a rare incursion into israel's carefully controlled airspace. the unmanned drone was shot down by israel which regularly sends its own fighter planes over lebanon. u.s. drone strikes killed of the 16 people in northwestern pakistan thursday and wounded a dozen others. anonymous officials said the targets were militants at a compound. the u.s. border patrol agent opened fire on people throwing rocks from the mexican side of the border, apparently killing a teenage boy. 16-year-old jose antonio elena rodriquez was found dead from gunshot wounds, according to mexican authorities. the border patrol says they were responding to reports about smuggling when they saw two people abandon an amount of drugs and flee across the border back into mexico wednesday night. an agent opened fire after people started throwing rocks
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from the mexican side and did not heed orders to stop. new data shows the number of people filing for jobless benefits in the u.s. has fallen to its lowest point in more than 4 1/2 years. the number of claims dropped by 30,000 last week according to the gent figures. while the unexpected dip may have partly been distorted by seasonal adjustments, it comes amidst other signs of improvement in the job market that could bolster president obama's bid for reelection. last week the government reported the unemployment rate had dropped to 7.8% in september, its lowest rate since obama took office. obama's challenger mitt romney is facing criticism over his remarks thursday that uninsured americans are able to have their health care paid for if they simply go to the hospital. mitt romney told the columbus dispatch newspaper people don't die from lack of insurance, saying --
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in fact, a 2010 study by researchers at harvard medical school found 45,000 people die in the u.s. each year due largely to a lack of health insurance and inability to access quality care. that comes out to one death every 12 seconds. mitt romney's campaign has reportedly removed an endorsement from tennessee congress member from its website after it was revealed the pro- life legislator had an extramarital affair with the patient and the pressure of the woman to get an abortion. according to a transcript of a 2000 phone call obtained by the huffington post, congressmember scott desjarlais told his partner -- he was backed by the tea party
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and has co-sponsored anti- abortion legislation, including a bill that would give 14th and in the protections to each "preborn human person." a romney endorsement from desjarlais posted in the spring was removed from romney's website thursday after reporter asked about it. prosecutors in guatemala say they have detained nine members of the military accused of killing peaceful protesters last week. eight people were killed and 34 wounded after the military opened fire on a group of mostly indigenous guatemalans who blockaded a highway to protest education policy, constitutional amendments, and a massive rise in utility costs. according to the attorney general's office, it is the first time members of the military have been prosecuted for abuses committed during a protest since the end of the guatemalan dirty war in 1996. activists in puerto rico are celebrating a key victory after controversial gas pipeline dubbed the death route by its critics has been halted.
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a permit application for the 92- mile pipeline submitted to the u.s. army corps of engineers was reportedly withdrawn thursday. upon it said the pipeline would have devastated the environment and residents a risk of deadly explosions freed last year, activists and biology professor appeared on democracy now to talk about the project. >> the concern from the community point of view is the ecological damage and the risk the pipeline will pose to over 200,000 people, and is also about the economy, reducing cost of energy we [indiscernible] all of the infrastructure of potential benefits. there is no benefit for the people of puerto rico. economically speaking. >> an east texas, activists protesting the construction of the keystone xl will pipeline are continuing their attempts to block tree clearing efforts for a third week amidst reported
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crackdowns on journalists. two reporters embedded with the activists were arrested and held overnight before charges against them were dropped. activists say transcanada, the company behind oil pipeline, is paying local police to provide security. two journalists from the new york times were held in handcuffs before being released. activists with the tar sands blockade say or attempting to protect the environment and local water supplies from toxic tar sands oil. a portland, oregon activist has been remanded into federal custody for refusing to testify before a grand jury about fellow activists in the pacific northwest. leah-lynn plant is the third activist in the region to be jailed for refusing to cooperate with the grand jury. the 24-year-old could remain in custody for 18 months for choosing to remain silent. on wednesday, leah-lynn plant made a video saying she is ready to go to prison. >> i view it like this.
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the state thinks it is a black hole that can destroy whatever it wants for it is much more like [indiscernible] i do not look forward to what inevitably go with me today, but i accept it. i ask people to write letters, sent books, donate. my convictions are unwavering and will not be shaken by their harassment. today's october 10, 2012, and i am ready to go to prison. >> those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we're on the road in albuquerque, new mexico on our 100-city tour. check our website democracynow.org. we begin with the selection of the european union for winning the nobel peace prize for its historic role in uniting the continent. the committee chair praised the eu for transforming europe from
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a continent of wars to a continent of peace. the selection of the european union surprised many as it comes at a time when much of europe is facing an economic crisis that threatens the etan's feature. just this past week, thousands of greeks protested in athens against a visit by the german chancellor angela merkel who has pushed greece, spain, and ireland to enact deep austerity measures. for more on this year's peace prize, we go to london where we're joined by tariq ali, political commentator, historian, activist, and editor of the new left review. he is the author of over 20 books including, "the duel: pakistan on the flight path of american power." he joins us by videostream. welcome. when you got up this morning and heard the news that the nobel prize committee has honored the european union, given it the new -- giving it the nobel peace prize, your response? >> initially, it was to burst out laughing.
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becais nobel peace prize committee basically run by former politicians in norway, never fails to amuse and disappoint. i mean, they constantly behave like this. prizes choices over the last 20 years have been laughable. in some cases, monstrous. to give the prize to the european community at a time effectively when economically it is promoting the unemployment, creating real class divides in virtually every country in europe, where it has led to enormous violence on the streets of greece because of the policies being pushed by the eu, democratically there's a huge [indiscernible] members of the the you about 43% of the people vote.
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in fewer numbers, the young barely vote at all. [indiscernible] not even the politicians who signed it had read it. it is now almost a duty of every country joining the eu to automatically become part of nato. so giving the be the prize is also rewarding nato, and is worth remembering every major eu country has supported and ratified the occupation of iraq, even though some oppose the war. so it is a complete and utter a joke, especially at this time when there is complete turmoil on the streets of southern europe. it just shows these norwegian former politicians who comprise the committee are completely out
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of touch. i am sure there'll be anger in norway itself as a usually is when they announce the peace prize. >> the norwegian peace council has called f resignation of the head of the nobel committee after awarding the prize to the european union. saying granting the eu and nobel prize for 2012 indicates its highly political dimension according to a project for the pastor has proven to represent the opposite of peace. the eu severs from an extensive democratic deficit with violations of human rights along increasing social inequality. that stigma from the norwegian peace council, tariq ali. >> amy, the norwegian peace council has criticized the peace prize in the past. in fact, alfred nobel specified the peace prize should only be given to those who are actively
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promoting the cause of peace. which the eu does not do, either in the middle east -- for instance, it has backed and supported everything the israelis have done as far as the occupation of palestine is concerned. it has tried to isolate the palestinian government in the past. it has carried on supporting nato -- it is part of it, and and the war in afghanistan. it is not popular even among many swedish and norwegian members of parliament. i was there many years ago when they give it to obama. about 10,000 people demonstrated against that because obama had just said he was good escalate the war in afghanistan and pakistan. so the peace committee itself now, the nobel prize committee, has become a version of the eu. it is undemocratic, self-
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appointed, no accountability whatsoever. something needs to be done to change it. in the case of the prize committee, is to be internationalized. it cannot just be these deadbeat politicians. >> the spokesperson for greece's main opposition party said "i just cannot understand what the reasoning would be behind it. in many parts europe, but especially in greece we are experiencing what really is a war situation on a daily basis albeit a war that has not been formally declared. there is nothing peaceful about it." tariq ali? >> [indiscernible] not only have they created a situation by their demands, the german banks in particular, backed by the french banks and the politicians to defend the system, they have made life virtually for every creek right
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up to the middle classes, barring a very rich -- which is miserable. i have been to greece often over the last year-and-a-half in the situation is really bad now. and more to the point, that when there was a chance the leader might be elected, and became very close to it, every eu politician, including the recently elected francois hollande of france, went on greek television and appeal to the greek people that if you vote for him, you'll be crushed. this is a suicide. greece will be destroyed. these threats -- the young did vote for the opposition read this open intervention, and what does democratic in the elections of european union country, had a very negative impact. the question is, amy, what did
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this committee behave like this? it is because it is totally out of touch. it doesn't care. it feels it can be part of the prize committee for ever. they nominate each other. i think this time, though we have said this before, they have gone too far. people will be very angry. >> european commission president barroso praised the nobel committee's decision. >> let's never forget the brought together nations emerging from the ruins of a devastating second world war and united them in a project for peace built represented the common european interest. the european union and committee has unified country's plague of the cold war [indiscernible]
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respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, justice, the rule of law, and respect for human rights. >> that was the european commission president, tariq ali. >> amy, barroso was a leader of portugal during the iraq war and decided to back against the wishes of the majority of the portuguese people. for him to talk about defending human rights when he participated in a war that led to over the debt -- led to the death of over zero million people is outrageous. not only outside the european union, but inside, barroso and the other members of the eu have suspended habeas corpus, which have limited civil rights and human rights, which have participated in renditions and handing over european citizens
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to be tortured and other parts of the world or to be sent to guantanamo. so all of this brings very hollow. as for the absurd remark that the european union has united europe after the war? that is total nonsense. it did not exist after the war. were actually helped western europe, not eastern europe, which helped western europe after the second world war and had nothing to do with europe. it was the u.s., the marshall plan which allows money to build part of western europe as part of their contribution compared to the east, which was under soviet control. so why bring me eu in after the war? [indiscernible] to keep europe under some kind of control, and it is not
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working. european citizens in different parts of europe will be laughing at this decision. >> tariq ali, thank you for being with us, a british- pakistani political commentator, historian, activist, filmmaker, novelist, author of over 20 books including, "the duel: pakistan on the flight path of american power." this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, we expand the debate. we bring two third party vice- presidential candidates into the vice presidential debate that was held last night in kentucky. stay with us. ♪ [music break]
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>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. road in the albuquerque, new mexico, headed to silver city and tonight we will be in arizona, followed by tomorrow in phoenix and tucson and tomorrow night in phoenix. with less than 24 days before the 2012 general election, the two was presidential candidates squared off in their only debate thursday night, on the campus of center college in kentucky. for about an hour-and-a-half, they aggressively challenged
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each other on foreign and domestic policy issues as they sat a table with moderator martha raddatz of abc news. she pressed them with questions on the deaths of americans at the u.s. embassy in libya, taxes, medicare, social security, the budget deficit, terrorism and afghanistan. she also asked each of the candidates, both of whom are catholic, about how their personal beliefs affect their views on abortion. today, "democracy now!" brings you our second expanding the debate special. we first broke the sound barrier during the presidential debate in denver by pausing after president obama and mitt romney's answers to get real- time responses from jill stein of the green party and rocky anderson of the justice the party. both of those parties presidential candidates. today we do the same, but this time with their running mates. cheri honkala with the green party, vice-presidential nominee in the 2012 election. she's also national coordinator of the poor people's economic human rights campaign. and luis rodriguez of the
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justice the party is a noted chicano writer, a gang expert and interventionist. his 15 published books include the bestselling 1993 memoir, "always running, la vida loca, gang days in l.a." and its 2011 sequel, "it calls you back: an odyssey through love, addiction, revolutions, and healing." he is co-founder of the network for revolutionary cha vice-presidential candidate luis rodriguez and cheri honkala, we welcome you to the debate. we will go to them in a moment. first, we begin with the debate moderator martha raddatz. >> the number one issue here at home is jobs. the percentage of unemployed just fell below 8% for the first time in 43 months. the obama administration had projected it would fall below 6% after the close to $1 trillion in stimulus money. so will both of you level with
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the american people. can you get unemployment to under 6% and how long will it take? i don't know how long it will take. we can and will get it under 6%. take a look at the facts. let's look at where we were when we came to office. the economy was in free fall. we had great recession hit. 9 million people lost their job. 1.7 -- $1.6 trillion in wealth lost in equity in your homes, in retire accounts from the middle class. we knew we had after the middle class. we immediately rescued general motors. we made sure we cut taxes for the middle class. in addition to that, when that occurred, what did romney do? romney said, no, let detroit go bankrupt. we helped people refinance their homes. governor romney said, no, let foreclosures hit the bottom. but it should be surprising for a guy who says 47% of the american people are unwilling to take responsibility for their own lives. bart friend in a speech said 30%
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of the american people are takers. these people are my mom and dad. the people i grew up with, my neighbors. they pay more effective tax than governor romney pays in his federal income tax. they are elderly people who in fact a living off social security. there veterans of people fighting in afghanistan right now who are "not paying any taxes." i've had it up to your this notion that 47% -- it's about time it takes some responsibility. instead of signing pledges to grover norquist not as the wealthiest among us to contribute to bring back the middle class, they should be signing a pledge saying to the class, we're going to level the playing field. we're going to get a fair shot again. we're going to not repeat the mistakes we made in the past by having a different set of rules for wall street and main street, making sure that we continue to hemorrhage these tax cuts for the super wealthy. they're pushing the continuation of the tax cut that will give an additional $500 billion in tax
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cuts to 120,000 families. and they're holding hostage the middle-class tax cut because they say, we won't pass -- we won't continue the middle-class tax cut unless you give the tax cut for the super wealthy. it's about time they take some responsibility. >> mr. ryan. >> joe and i are from similar towns. he is from scranton, pennsylvania. i'm from janesville, wisconsin. do you know what the unemployment rate in scranton is today? it is 10%. you know it was the day you guys came in? 8.5%. >> it is going down but >> just a two-minute answer, please. >> today and heaough situation? absolutely. we're going in the wrong direction. look at where we are. the economy is barely limping along. it is growing at 1.3%, slower than it grew last year and last resort in the before. job growth in september was slower than it was in august,
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and august was slower than a was in july. we're heading in the wrong direction. 23 million americans are struggling for work today. 15% of americans are living in poverty today. this is not a real recovery looks like. we need real reforms for real recovery, and that is exactly what mitt romney and are proposing. it is a five-point plan get america energy independent in north america by the end of the decade. help people who are hurting get the skills they need to get the jobs they want. get this deficit and debt under control. make trade work for america so we can make more things in america and sell them overseas and champion small businesses. to raise taxes on small businesses because they are our job creators. mitt romney is a car guy. the keep misquoting him read let me tell you that the mitt romney i know. this is a guy who -- i was talking to a family in massachusetts the other day. cheryl and mark nixon. their kids were hit in a car crash, four of them -- two of
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them were paralyzed. the romney's did not know that rid the to the same turf but never met before. mitt asked if he did, over christmas. he brought his boys, his wife gives. later on he said, i know you're struggling, mark. don't worry about their college, all paid for it. mitt romney doesn't tell these stories. the nixons told this story. when he told the story, he said it wasn't the help, the cash help, it was that he gave his time and has consistently. this is a man who gave 30% of his income to charity, more than the two of us combined. romney is a good man. he cares about one hatter% of americans in this country. with respect to that i think the vice president knows the words don't come out of your mouth the right way. [applause] [laughter] >> but i always say what i mean and so does romney. >> we want to get people out of @rty, in the middle-class.
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>> luis rodriguez, you're the vice-presidential nominee for the justice party. can you get unemployment under 6% and how? >> one, you cannot to do [indiscernible] technology has changed everything. the whole scenario has changed. now you have the walmarting of america where people who work or underemployed and cannot survive on his jobs. they are low paid. you have to think of short range and long range. short range, do what is supposed to be done. get jobs to build our country. infrastructure, housing done by people, give people the hammers and nails and let them build the country from the bottom up. give people the imagination so
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they can get into technology and utilize it to have meaningful jobs. in the long run, there have to be structuanges. everybody needs to work. everybody's passions can to their professions. we would have a whole different way of looking at jobs and what is being done by both the republicans and democrats. >> cheri honkala, your response of vice-presidential nominee for the green party? >> first of all, i want to thank you for having us on today and having this debate. what we would do is green the economy, making sure we put jobs that last for a long time, that would save our environment, and would put people to work. we would also turn the
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unemployment center into employment centers, and put homeless people the worked renovating abandoned houses. we have more abandoned houses then we have homeless people in this country. we could do something by putting them to work. >> we're going to turn back to martha raddatz, debate moderator and kentucky. >> talk about medicare and entitlements. both medicare and social security are going broke and taking a larger share of the budget in the process. will benefits for americans under these programs have to change for the programs to survive, mr. ryan four >> absolutely. these are indisputable facts that they're going bankrupt. when i look at these programs, we've all had tragedies in our lives. i think about what they've done for my own family. my mom and i had my grandmother move in with us who was facing alzheimer's.
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medicare was there for her, just like it's there for my mom right now who's a florida senior. after my dad died, my mom and i got social security survivors benefits. it helped me pay for college. it helped her go back to college in her 50s, where she started a small business because of the new skills she got. she paid all over ta the promise that these programs would be there for her. we will honor these promises. if you reform these programs for my generation, people 54 and below, you can guarantee they don't change for people in or near retirement, which is precisely what mitt romney in ire proposing. look what obamacare does. obamacare takes $716 billion from medicare to spend on obamacare. even their own chief actuary at medicare backs this up. he says you cannot spend the same dollar twice. you cannot claim that this money goes to medicare and obamacare. then they put this to obamacare board in charge of cutting medicare each and every year in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors.
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this board, 15 people. the president is supposed to appoint the next year and not one of them even has to have medical training. social security? if we do not sure of social security, when we run out of ious, when the program goes bankrupt, 25% across-the-board benefit cut kicks in on current seniors in the middle of their retirement. they have of a credible solutions on the table. the tell you about vouchers. the say all these things to try and scare people. here's what we're saying. give younger people, when they become medicare eligible, guaranteed coverage options that you cannot be denied, including traditional medicare. choose your plan. more coverage for middle-income and total out-of-pocket for the poor and the sec. choice and competition. we would rather have 50 million future seniors determine how their medicare is delivered to them instead of 15 bureaucrats deciding what, if, where, when
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they get it. >> you know, i heard that death panel argument from sarah palin. let's talk about medicare. what we did is we saved $716 billion and put it back and applied for medicare. we cut the cost of medicare. we stopped overpaying insurance companies when doctors and hospitals -- the ama supported what we did. aarp endorsed what we did. it extends the life of medicare to 2024. they want to wipe this all out. it also gave more benefits. any senior out there, ask yourself. d have more benefits today? you do. if you're near the doughnut hole, you have $600 more to help your prescription drug costs. they wipe all of this out and medicare goes -- becomes insolventnumber two, guaranteedt -- it's a voucher. when they first proposed -- when the congressman had his first voucher program, the cbo said it
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would cost six to $400 a year, martha, more for every senior 55 and below when they got there. he knew that, yet he got all the guys in congress and women and republican party to vote for it. governor romney, knowing that said, i would sign it where -- were i there. who do believe, the ama? me? a guy who's fought his whole life for this? or somebody who action put in motion a plan that knowingly added $6,400 a year more to the cost of medicare? now they got a new plan. trust me, it's not when decoster anymore. folks, follow your instincts on this one. and with regard to social security, we will not privatize it. if we had listened to romney, to governor romney and the congressman during the bush years, imagine where all the seniors would be now if their money had been in the market. their ideas are old and they are
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bad, and eliminate the guarantee of medicare. >> green party vice-presidential nominee cheri honkala, your approach to medicare. its problems, and what you'll do about it. >> first of all, we see health care as a basic human right. we see that everybody in america should have access to health care. we believe in the u.s., single payer healthcare and we want to have medicare for all in this country. we have enough to go around and everybody should be guaranteed an opportunity to be healthy, prod citizens. >> what does that mean? >> it means that we want a single payer system. we think everybody should be
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covered from rehabilitation, drug and not all programs, to operations to their dental coverage covered. you name it, people should have quality health care in this country and they should be guaranteed it, just like the medicare system that we have, is to be expanded to cover everyone. >> luis rodriguez, your response? >> first of all, the whole medical system needs to be taken out of the profit market, taken out of the market system. it is essential. it is something everyone needs. we spend billions of dollars wasting money just because people are not being taken care of, their illnesses and sicknesses they get because we don't do enough to prevent, to help, to maintain, to give people the care they need. i think this is something the government should have to do because it has got to be taken
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out of the hands of insurance companies, the big hospitals were costs are astronomical. we're asking the government to give us a break out of something that is taken out of our hands. i think it has to come back. single payer, extend medicare to everybody, not just to the elderly, but to every kid, every adult, every youth. make sure everybody has access to the great psychological innovations. our bodies are our medicine breed we don't need be given a lot of drugs, pharmaceutical companies throw things in there. we need help in making their own bodies hill, which requires good eating, the exercise, a sense of less stress, of living in a world that does not to and to much of you. but making sure the government ensures this as an essential need, not just something summit is to be a to go to the market and try to profit off of like it is being done today. we are expanding the debate, the
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only vice-presidentiale in this election season. we go to break and then come back. this is "democracy now!" this is what democracy sounds like. ♪ [music break]
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>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are expanding the debate. the only vice-presidential debate that is taking place this election season. we are joined by luis rodriguez, the vice-presidential nominee for the justice party and cheri honkala, the vice presidential nominee for the green party. in kentucky, mitt romney's vice presidential nominee is there, paul ryan, as well as vice-
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president joe biden. the democratic vice-presidential nominee. martha raddatz is the --
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[no audio] >> we have reached the recruiting goal for afghan forces. we have degraded al qaeda. tom, why not leave now? what more can we really accomplish? is it worth more american lives? >> we do not want to lose the gains we have gotten. we want to make sure the taliban does not give al qaeda a safe haven. we agree with the administration on the 2014 transition. when i think about afghanistan, i think about the incredible job that our troops have done. you have been more than the two of us combined. first, was there in 2002, it was
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amazing to me what they were facing britain wanted kandahar before the surge, and i sat down with a young private in the 82nd from the menominee indian reservation who would tell me what you did every day, and i was in all. in to see what they have in front of them, then to go back in december to go with the marines to see what they had accomplished? it is nothing short of amazing. what we don't want to do is los@ the gains we have gotten. we disagreed from time to time on a few issues. we would have more likely taken into account the recommendations from our commanders on troop levels throughout this year's fighting season. we have been skeptical about negotiations with the taliban, especially while they're shooting at us. but we want to the 2014 transition be successful. and that means we want to make sure our commanders have what they need to make sure that it is successful so that this does not once again become a launching pad for terrorists.
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>> let's keep our eye on the ball. the reason i've been in and out of afghanistan and iraq 20 times -- i been throughout that whole country, most in a helicopter and sometimes in a vehicle. the fact is, we went there for one reason -- to get those people who killed americans, and al qaeda. we've decimated al qaeda central. we have eliminated osama bin laden. that was our purpose. and in fact, in the meantime, what we said we would do, we would help train the afghan military. it's their responsibility to take over their own security. that is why with 49 of our allies in afghanistan, we've agreed on a gradual drawdown so we're out of there by the year -- in the year 2014. my friend and the governor say it's based on conditions, which means it depends. it does not depend for us.
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it is the responsibility of the afghans to take care of their own security. we have trained over 315,000, mostly without incident. there have been more than two dozen cases of green on blue where americans have been killed. if the measures the military has taken to not take hold, we will not go on joint patrols, we will not train in the field. we will only train in the army bases that exist there. but we are leaving. .e're leaving in 2014 in the process, we will be setting another $800 billion. we have been in this war for over a decade. the primary objective is almost completed. now all we're doing is putting the kabul government in a position to be able to maintain their own security. it is their responsibility, not
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america's. >> justice party nominee luis rodriguez, respond on the issue of defense spending as well as afghanistan. >> we impartially have an empire. the u.s. is behind his empire. we have the largest military force in the world. we have caused more damage, more destruction, more terrorism to happen than any other force in this world. i know this is hard to imagine anyone saying this, but i don't need an intelligent mechanism to know that we're behind so much war and destruction. it is time for the american people to not have our shoulders, our mothers and brothers and sisters out in the wars anymore and places we don't belong, and places that don't resolve anything. in spite of the war against terror, i do not feel safer. i think it is about time this empire were to end. it is hurting our economy, hurting our politics.
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we cannot survive if we continue legal around the world thinking our issues, our demands and what we're about is more important anyone else in the world. i am for making sure the world is peaceful, which means you cannot have military means of getting peace. you cannot have unmannned drones, bombing civilians, no matter where in this world. i do feel we have to back up completely on the defense budget, which is a single largest amount of money being taken out of our economy. put it back in defense industries that are making millions of dollars off our taxes -- that are being put in defense industries that are making millions of dollars off our taxes. >> cheri honkala, vice- presidential nominee for the green party? >> we need to bring our troops home. force for the world.g the polic@ we need to stay out of other [indiscernible] we need to take that money and bring it back home were it would
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be to bring our soldiers back home, turn them into organic farmers, have them be busy rebuilding america. the answer is not with war. the answer is creating a better america for all of us to live in. >> we're going to go now to closing statements. martha raddatz in kentucky. >> we turn to the candidates for closing statements. thank you tianeman. the coin toss, again, as president biden starting with closing arguments. >> the me say at the outset that i want to thank you for doing this. and the college. the fact is, we're in a situation where we inherited a god awful circumstance. people are in real trouble. we acted to move to bring relief to the people who need the most help now. and in the process, we -- i case you have noticed, we of strong disagreements.
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you probably detected my frustration with their attitude about the american people. my friend says that 30% of the american people are takers. they -- romney points out, 47% of the people won't take responsibility. he is talking about my mother and father, the places i grew up in, my neighbors. he is talking about the people that have built this country. all they're looking for, martha, all they're looking for is an even shot. when they've been given the shot, they've done it. whenever you level the playing field, they've been able to move. and they want a little peace of mind. and the president and i are not one arrest until the plane fell is leveled. they in fact have a clear shot, and have peace of mind. until they can turn to the kids and so the degree of confidence, honey, it's going to be ok. it's going to be ok. that's what this is all about. >> congressman ryan. >> i wanted to do as well,
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martha, danville, kentucky, center college. and i want to thank you, jill. it'san honor to engage in this critical debate. we face a very big choice. what kind of country are we going to be? what kind of country are we going to give our kids? president obama had his chance. he made his choices. his economic agenda -- more spending, more borrowing, higher taxes, a government takeover of health care? it's not working. it's failed to create jobs we need. 23 million americans are struggling for work today. 15% of americans are in poverty. this is not what a real recovery looks like. you deserve better. mitt romney and i want to earn your support. were offering reforms for a real recovery for every american. mitt romney, his experience, his ideas, his solutions, is uniquely qualified to get this job done.
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at a time when we have a jobs crisis in america, wouldn't it be nice to have a job creator in the white house? the choice is clear -- a stagnant econo that promotes more government dependency, or a dynamic, growing economy that promotes opportunity and jobs, -- it romney and i will not duck the tough issues. we will not blame others for the next four years. we will take responsibility. we will not replace our founding principles, but reapply our founding principles. the choice is clear. and the choice rests with you. and we ask you for your vote. thank you. >> cheri honkala, one minute for your final statement read >> as a formerly homeless mother, i know your pain. we can have a country that can be free from unemployment, hunger and homelessness. let's occupied the voting booths on election day.
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let's vote green and put to women in the white house so that we can take back america and have another country and another world. >> and luis rodriguez, vice presidential nominee for the justice party. >> this is not about recovery but a regeneration, bringing back the ideas, imagination, the power we hold our hands into the political process come into the economy. this country has a lot of latent talent and attributes in our kids, and are working class, and people who build their homes and see their homes been taken away. this is the worst corporate [indiscernible] we've seen in history. nobody is holding them accountable. let's take it back and put it in our hands, and the hands of the people who work in the hands of the people who can imagine and regenerate our economy completely by making sure that everybody's needs are met, everybody's housing is taken care of, everybody's medical needs, educational needs. no more corporations where kids
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have $60,000 debt. we have to read imagine another america, another world. clean, and our mental justice and the economy justice in our politics. >> luis rodriguez, vice presidential nominee for the justice party, cheri honkala vice-presidential nominee for the green party, joining paul ryan of the republican party and vice-president joe biden of the democratic party in this only vice-presidential debate of the 2012 election. that does it for our expanding the debate series until next week when we will be broadcasting from hofstra. we're continuing our silent majority tour or 100-city silence majority tour. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]
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